“I love snacks.” Dotty clapped her hands.
“These snacks will be both edible and physical,” Nora explained, smiling at Dotty approvingly. “Every two hours we’ll have a check-in to make sure you’ve consumed enough food and water. And then you’ll get up and move.”
“I can’t move if I’m in meetings,” Chad grumbled in between bites.
“Good point.” Dotty gestured to her grandson.
Nora held onto her smile. “You can hold walking meetings – circling the office hallways, going around the block outside, or traveling up and down stairs.”
“Good point.” Dotty gestured to Nora.
“I won’t be inconvenienced,” Chad said stubbornly.
“If we return to our car metaphor – ”
“Please don’t.” Chad pushed his empty bowl away.
“ – an oil change is inconvenient but necessary and there are many ways to fit it into your schedule.”
“Like potty breaks.” Dotty nodded. “I like her, Whiskers.”
Chad frowned. It was clear he didn’t like Nora.
And since they had a history she’d rather he forget, Nora was fine with that.
Chapter Four
The nagging sense that Chad had met Nora before wouldn’t go away.
Not through a breakfast of oatmeal.
Not through a gentle walk around the building’s courtyard at his grandmother’s pace.
Not while Chad dutifully drank two glasses of water and ate plain yogurt with chia and fresh cherries.
He knew this woman. He knew the warmth of her hand in his. He knew the intelligence in her deep brown eyes. He knew the way her voice roughened when she spoke of something important to her.
And yet, he couldn’t place her. Not her over-sized glasses. Not her neat sun-streaked brown ponytail. Not her athletic, conservative outfit. And he tried.
“Are you sure we haven’t met before?” he asked her when Grandma Dotty had retreated to the guest room to call his cousin Kitty. “Maybe at a fitness club…”
“Do you belong to one?” Nora pushed her glasses higher on her nose.
“No.” Not for years. He hadn’t had time. “But… Have you ever been a bartender or a waitress or something?” Perhaps she’d worked at an establishment Chad frequented.
“No.” Her phone chimed with a message. Nora checked the screen. “Honestly?” She looked exasperated, moving to gather her big shoulder bag. “I’m sorry. Something came up and I have to take care of it. I’ll be back later.”
“Where are you off to?” Chad wasn’t finished trying to place her, not to mention he felt a bit jealous about Nora’s focus on someone other than himself, which was out of character for him and disconcerting.
She was disconcerting.
“I need to…” Nora’s brow quirked. “…walk my dog. And then swing by the market for more food for the two of you.”
“But you’re coming back.”
“Yes.” She tapped a response into her phone. And then glanced at him with a mixture of emotions flitting behind those lenses – frustration, apprehension, and something he couldn’t place. “Don’t worry. You’re going to be back at work tomorrow. And if you follow my recommendations and honor my prompts via text, you should be able to stay at work and out of the hospital.”
Nora thought he was worried about being able to return to work? How weak did she think he was?
Chad squared his shoulders.
He supposed the fact that she hadn’t caught on to his curiosity regarding their past was a relief. “Yeah, I need to get that tune-up. I’m incredibly busy at work right now.” Reality was that he couldn’t afford any more health problems.
Chad walked Nora to the door.
“Drink your water and eat the trail mix I left you.” And with barely a glance his way, she was gone.
Chad closed the door and headed to his home office, intending to make some calls and answer emails.
The news wasn’t great. The clowns were still trying to hold their website for ransom. There was no word yet from Interpol about the missing diamonds. Phil had gotten in touch with their insurance, but they were claiming first responsibility lay with the Russian seller’s insurance company. Braydon was jittery about losing the painite. And Phil wasn’t happy that he was fielding questions about Chad taking a sick day and having to lie, even to their brothers.
Chad urged everyone to stay the course.
Urged? Honestly, he sounded more like their commanding father-in-chief.
He didn’t like being heavy-handed and bossy. But it was necessary.
Grandma Dotty poked her head in his office. She was wearing Chad’s New York Yankees baseball cap – autographed by Alex Rodriguez – his New York Giants football jersey – autographed by Eli Manning – and a perplexed look on her face. “Where’s the mechanic?”
“Nora? She had to walk her dog.” Chad waved a hand toward his grandmother and the blue jersey that hung to her knees. “Put those back where you found them. And then stay out of my bedroom.”
“I don’t need to go back in your bedroom, Whiskers.” Grandma Dotty sniffed, nose in the air. “I found everything I need to know about you. There’s no special woman in your life. No second toothbrush. No drawer filled with a woman’s change of clothing. No lipstick stains on your shirt collars.” She pranced closer. “Now, I have a list of women interested in providing me with great-grandchildren, starting with Cordelia.” The woman she’d mentioned last night as being willing to date him. The one on the app she’d put him on.
“I’m not interested in Cordelia.” There was just one woman Chad was interested in, and he’d promised himself he’d find her. He just hadn’t believed he’d still be looking four years later.
“There are other women.” Grandma Dotty smiled the way she did when she wasn’t paying attention to what was being said. She wiped her finger across the surface of his desk, checking for dust. “I saw one this morning who seems like a go-getter. I’ll arrange a meet-and-greet. A lot can happen between a couple when a man’s been celibate so long his condoms have expired.”